Breaking Free
by Leah-TheBadWolf
Summary: Leah's had enough of the BS and does the unthinkable. Leaves by her own free will. (canon for possibly both books and movie)


**Disclaimer (for all chapters): I do not own Twilight or any of it's sequels. Nor Leah Clearwater (sadly). Just Jimmy White. Rated T for the occasional cursing. I can't promise I'll have the next part up any time soon but I am working on it as I speak. If I'm lucky I may have a new part up before Christmas.**

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Leah was leaving home a month and half after the whole Volturi situation had been defused. (funnily enough, the day she had finally decided to leave on was on Valentine's Day) She didn't tell anyone she was leaving, not even her mother, for out of fear that Sue may try to talk her out of it. She avoided the Cullen's as much as possible in an attempt to keep her thoughts guarded from the mind-reader and the brat who would rat her out to Jacob and possibly Bella (who might just rat her out to Sue). In the end she had left notes for her mother and Seth telling them that she was fed up with nearly everything and everyone around the Res, La Push and Forks and now that the danger had passed she didn't feel that she had to stay anymore. There would be a total of sixteen(wolves once she left, neither Jacob nor Sam could argue that there were too few to patrol the territory once she left.

She'd given her Mom and Seth her new phone number in the notes but warned them not to call her before a week was up, if they did she wouldn't answer them. If there was an emergency, then they could text her if they needed to (Sue had one, because she needed one for work). Leah's was one of those pay-as-you-go type of things as she didn't want to pay a bill every month for just for the most basic of her needs (calls and texting). She'd never really had one before but after she pulled out her savings, she thought it would be a good idea to have one, just in case.

She started packing several days ago just after the Volturi confrontation had ended, whenever she was "off-duty" from patrolling and whenever Seth was on patrol and her mom at work or at Charlie's. Little by little she packed away bits of her life. Some photos of her family, a picture of Emily before she was scarred because of Sam's recklessness and one of her and Sam for old times sake. She also packed a small pile of yet-to be-added minutes for her new cell, and a few other personal items she cherished but could never bear to part with, but it was mostly clothing, pajama's and underwear that she packed. Basically whatever else she couldn't replace was to be left behind. When she had started packing but couldn't finish, she had slipped the bags into her closet whenever someone came home, just out of sight in her room. Since she did her own laundry there was little chance her mother or Seth would see them.

She knew that her father would've supported her if he were still alive, she didn't feel guilty once for even thinking of leaving. Leah was thankful that Jacob had never alpha-ordered her to never leave the packs as they were now. She smirked a little at the thought, Jacob had never thought of that little loophole apparently. He was much too busy with that spoiled Cullen brat these days, which was fine by her, she wanted to get the hell out of here before Jacob could even think of sending her back to Sam.

With that thought she zipped up her last bag of clothes and hefted it to the front door. The taxi she called about a while ago had just pulled into the driveway. The driver honked a couple of times to let her know that he had just arrived. When she heard him she went to the door to signal that she'd be out soon.

Leah hurried back to her room and grabbed two more bags and looped the last over her head and shoulder before she made her way back barely giving her surroundings a second glance. She stopped, however, at the sight of a picture of her father with his two best friends Charlie and Billy. It was one of her favorites taken just before one of their fishing trips together, before Billy's diabetes took the use of his legs from him. There were many other pictures of Harry around the house but it was this one she wanted more than any of them. She took it and slipped it into the suitcase that she had brought in earlier, and picked up the last suitcase and headed out the door.

She chuckled a little when the drivers jaw dropped open at the sight of her handling so many bags with ease but she said nothing and set the bags down before she slid into the cab. She took a few deep calming breaths to settle what few nerves she had.

When the driver had just finished putting the last bag into the trunk before he slid himself in behind the steering wheel. "So where you goin', Miss?"

Leah gave him a small little smile and said, "The Port Angeles bus station, please. I'd take the car but it's my brother's and I don't think he'd like it too much if I took it and left it there without telling him." She tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear as the driver nodded before he pulled out of the driveway.

Yes, changing the title of her car over to her brother was one of the best things she could've done for him at this point. He'd be sixteen soon and he'd been wanting a car already despite the fact that he was only fifteen and learned to drive with hers, so it was only natural to leave it to him and spare her mother the aggravation of shopping for a car for him or Seth asking if he could use hers. Besides Jacob would probably try to get the Cullen's to track her down using the car's information against her or hack into God knows what in order to follow her in an attempt to get her back.

Not that they'd even bother to try to go to so much trouble just for her. Hell most of them would probably be glad to finally be rid of her. She knew Sam would be relieved and oddly enough, she was too.

The trip to the bus station felt like it was both the longest and shortest trip of her life. She had watched the scenery fly by in a daze but before too long she found that the cab was now pulling into the Greyhound station. After the driver pulled up to the curb, he helped Leah put her bags onto the sidewalk before she paid him. When he pulled away she could feel her heart thumping wildly. As soon as her bus pulled out of the station, she'd finally be free of everything holding her back.

But that was temporarily forgotten as the cellphone in her pocket came to life. She fished it out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID. "That furry son of a bitch!" She growled, briefly wondering if she should ditch the phone. She didn't though, she loved her mom and Seth and this phone was now her sole connection to them, but this call did not come from them. The call that Leah was not about to answer was coming straight from Jacob Black's cell phone (a gift from Bella as a belated Christmas present). She turned off the phone and stuffed it back into her pocket, wishing she'd left it off to begin with. He shouldn't have been able to get a hold of her cell number that quickly, not unless he went over there for some reason or another and managed to find her note to Seth.

She could tell that if she didn't calm down quickly Port Angles would have one "furry little problem" on their hands. She quickly closed her eyes and focused only on her breathing and thinking calming thoughts in order to slow her heartbeat down. The thought of living somewhere without Bella, Jacob and Sam to influence her life was the perfect thing to sooth her nerves.

When she opened her eyes, she was slightly taken aback when she saw a few strangers looking at her worriedly. She smiled at them looking slightly sheepish, "I'm fine, just nervous." She didn't explain further before she turned around and began to look for the ticket counter. She had taken a couple of steps before she realized she'd forgotten to do something, the letters she'd written to Charlie and Jacob. They still needed to be mailed. She wished she could've given Charlie's to him in person but she couldn't risk being caught for a moment in her attempt to leave. She dug around in one of her zippered bags until she felt the long stiff envelopes brush her fingertips. One addressed to Charlie, the other to Jacob, which would be sent to Billy's house and not the Cullen's place, where he spent far too much time at these days than was healthy. But she knew if she sent the letter to Jacob at his father's place it take longer for him to receive it. She grinned at the thought of Jacob stewing and fuming wondering just where she ran off to. She'd bought the stamps the other day for the letters but she hadn't mailed them. She hadn't planned on doing so either until she was safely at the bus station. She was sending Jacob's with the slowest delivery rate as she could possibly find and Charlie's with same day delivery. It was late morning now and Leah was hopeful he'd receive the letter before night-fall. She looked around for a moment until she saw the mailbox and slipped the letters inside without hesitation. With the letters now securely in the box, Leah turned and headed towards the building to find a ticket office.

When she found it, Leah looked at the destinations looking for one that would take her far away from Port Angeles. She knew that this could be one of the places that they'd look for her at but probably not at first, so she needed to get out of here as quickly as could be managed before they got wise to her location. Thank God, Alice the fortune-teller vamp, couldn't "see" shapeshifters or she'd be so screwed so fast her head wouldn't even have time to spin.

In the end she decided to go to Atlanta, at least for now until she could make up her mind further on where she wanted to go for certain. Atlanta seemed like a good starting point, and it was far enough to ease her mind but the trip didn't start boarding for at least a half-hour.

Once she bought the ticket she looked around for a moment, wondering what she could do with the little time she had before she could board. When she spotted a small in-station shop, and took a step in it's direction and then realized she was holding her luggage. Fortunately for her one of the off duty bus-driver's saw her dilemma. "Hey! You! Kid!" Leah jerked her head around for a moment looking for the owner of the voice. "Who me?" She said as she finally spotted the man who looked to be about Billy's age in a Greyhound driver's uniform, who was watching her in barely hidden amusement. She must've looked every bit like a kid who was running away from home and got caught, she realized, her cheeks turned red because of it. "Yeah you, You know, if you want to go into the shop for a few minutes to buy some time-wasters or whatever I'll watch your stuff 'til you get back." She watched him warily for a moment, not sure if she should believe him but she followed her gut since he seemed like a nice enough guy, Leah nodded at him gratefully, "Thanks. I don't have too much time before boarding so I'll be quick." She took off towards the shop at a fast walk.

A little while later she exited the shop with four books (one of them being Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter which she bought on an amused whim), a few magazines, lip balm, a notebook, pens, a thick black hardcover three hundred-page journal, travel-sized lotion and hand sanitizer, a few bottles of water, snack food, candy bars, a toothbrush and travel-sized toothpaste, two reusable shopping bags (one for her purchases) along with a few other things she thought that might be needed until she got to her final stop. As she approached the driver she thanked him for watching her stuff while she got what she needed.

"No problem, Miss..." He grinned at her in an attempt to ask her for her name.

She grinned back at him cheekily, "Leah". It's nice to meet you too..." she paused a moment to read his name tag, "Jimmy White. I hate to leave now that I've made a friend but my bus is going to be leaving soon and I need..." she rifled though her bag for her jacket that she might need on the trip and put it on once it was free of her suitcase. After zipping up the bag she made an attempt to pick them up again in order to take it to the bus, that would very soon, be loading.

"Hey hey take it easy, Leah. That bus ain't goin' anywhere without you. You're going to Atlanta, right? " Her jaw dropped open to speak but she didn't get the chance to ask him how he knew where she was going "And I know because I'm the driver for this trip. Don't worry, kid. I'm not some sort of weird stalker," he teased her lightly just before he looked at his watch. "And now it's just about time for the bus to start loading so if you'll follow me, Leah." he said as he picked up the two heaviest of her bags as she carried the rest over to the outgoing Atlanta bus.

There was just something about Jimmy she liked. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that someone was treating her like a decent human being for once, and not like the scum on the bottom of their shoes. Jimmy though, reminded her of her Dad.

Almost at once thoughts of Harry were brought to mind. They leaped towards the past and of possibilities were he still alive. Her Dad bawled Sam and Emily out royally for treating Leah so badly, imprint be damned! Leah knew she deserved better than the smirks and the looks and the unwanted pity she got from them both. She also knew that neither of them had been allowed to set foot on Clearwater land because of it. But he wasn't alive now and nothing stopped same from coming over whenever they felt like it especially since both she and Seth first phased.

And if that wasn't bad enough it was that Sam and Emily was always giving her those looks. Those looks that said "See what you're missing out on?" It didn't stop them from practically making out on La Push beach either, right where Leah and everybody else in the pack could see them. (If Sam had ever loved her at all, he would've waited until she had left in order to spare her.) Or even that when they weren't looking at her with pity, they were smirking or rolling their eyes at her. If there had been a way to leave before now she would've found it and left a long time ago and left all their sorry asses behind. Including Sam's pack and Jacob.

Just as these thoughts went though her mind, she completely missed what Jimmy had asked her. After dropping most of her bags near the bus she turned to face him. "I'm. sorry...what did you say?" she asked him sheepishly. He smiled softly at her, "I said that you looked like you were off in your own little world there. What's up?" She shrugged, "It's nothing I want to talk about right now. No offense, Jimmy."

He took the rest of her bags from her then and put them in the baggage compartment leaving her with the shopping bag she wanted to take with her on the bus. "No problem. It just looked like you needed someone to talk to." She nodded "Yeah, but almost no one back home ever wanted me to talk to them, not really. See they all think I've got a bit of a foot in mouth problem. But the thing is, they just want me to sit down, shut up and take orders and don't complain. While, I rather just tell things like they are. To tell the truth, pretty much all of them think I'm a bitch, especially when I'm only trying to knock some sense into them. And it just got to the point where I just couldn't take it their shit anymore, so here I am."

She looked at him after she finally got the last word out. Waiting for him to turn around and tell her to go home or at the very least make some remark about her cursing. But he said nothing, not at first anyway. Finally, after the last passenger's bag was loaded, he turned around and looked at her. "It sounds to me like they don't even try to understand you. Like they think their lives are so much more important than yours that and they don't want you to burst the happy little bubble they have got going for them. Even if their lives just might be running you ragged. I've known a few people like that too, to be honest. But you know, Leah, I get the feeling that there's a lot more to that story, but I'm not going to push if you don't want to tell it. After all you don't really know me." She nodded, still half in her thoughts but still focusing on Jimmy. "There is, but I really can't say much about it. 'Code of Secrecy' all that. But it's no cult in case that's what you're thinking." she teased. Even though it seemed to her, at times in the past...to be true.

He smiled at her, "If you say so, Miss Leah. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll make sure everyone's on board so we can get the show on the road." As Jimmy left to go to the ticket counter to get a list of people who would be on board for this trip so he could do a role call. When he was gone Leah stepped on board the bus that would take her out of her own personal nightmare of a life and into a new one.


End file.
